Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, lines 23 and 24, to delete "an Irish-based risk" and substitute "a risk in the State".

This amendment is grouped with amendments Nos. 2, 5 and 6, so I will speak to all four. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are similar. The objective is to have consistency within the Bill. The change proposed in amendment No. 1 would need to be made again in section 3. Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 are linked because they replace the definition in question with a different one. These amendments are about consistency. The Minister of State will recall the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2011, passed recently by these Houses, which makes provision for claims to be made for those who had insurance with Setanta or claims relating to that company. I understand the payments are to be made later this week or early next week, which is very welcome. The phrase "risk in the State" is consistently used throughout the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2011. Therefore, it would seem logical to use the same wording here rather than the phrase "Irish-based risk". Amendment No. 6 defines this as per the 2011 Act. Amendment No. 5 deletes the definition in the Bill and replaces it with the one in the 2011 Act, the purpose being to have consistency in how we interpret risk.

The Minister's definition, which amendment No. 5 deletes, states that an Irish-based risk means "a risk, falling within a relevant class of non-life insurance, that, by virtue of regulations under section 7(1), is regarded, for the purposes of this Act, as a risk based in the State". The current text ends up defining the subject as a risk based in the State. The definition I am suggesting is that used in the 2011 Act. If my amendment is not accepted, this Bill will define Irish-based risks and another two Acts would be defining risks in the State. There is a lack of consistency.

Section 7, which we will discuss in more detail later and which refers to risks based in the State, allows the Central Bank to make regulations specifying what counts as risk based in the State, but we already have a definition. The only reason for a redefinition, which is what is included in this Bill, is to limit the range of insurance types that would be caught by the definition. It seems confusing given that we have two Acts that define the risks as risks in the State as opposed to Irish-based risks, which we are now trying to introduce. The amendments make the point that we should be using the definition already established and used in numerous Acts. Is there any reason non-life insurance should be excluded from the database?